


amuse bouche

by sarahyyy



Category: HIStory3 - 圈套 | HIStory3: Trap, HIStory3-圈套 | HIStory3: Trapped (Web Series)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Pining, lmao basically jack feeds zz and zz falls in love this is so predictable i AM SORRY, sorry there is........not a lot of cooking here is it obvious that i have -300 kitchen experience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 20:19:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18667666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahyyy/pseuds/sarahyyy
Summary: “How did you know that California rolls are my favourite?” Zhao Zi asks in awe, eyes wide.‘Because you said you dreamt of it two nights ago, you idiot,’Jack thinks fondly, but doesn’t say that.What he does instead is to reach out to ruffle Zhao Zi’s hair, and then tell him, “I made you dessert as well.”(Or, the one where Jack cooks his way into Zhao Zi's heart.)





	amuse bouche

The first time Jack genuinely worries over Zhao Zi is after Zhao Zi ignores thirteen consecutive LINE messages from Jack. Zhao Zi normally takes mere minutes to reply, even if it’s just with a quick _“in a meeting, almost our turn to get yelled at :(“_ or _“out on a case ttyl”_ , a habit that Zhao Zi says is a remnant of the days his grandma was still around and always worried about him getting into trouble. 

He does make a quick stop by the station first, just to see if it’s just that Zhao Zi is so busy that he hasn’t had the time to touch his phone, much less realise that Jack has been messaging him and is worried about him. 

What he learns from Zhao Zi colleagues at the station ends up taking him back to Zhao Zi’s home. 

Zhao Zi opens the door after Jack’s twenty-second knock, just right before Jack makes the decision to scope the property for open windows. 

“Jack?” Zhao Zi murmurs blearily. “Why are you here?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?” Jack shoots back, herding Zhao Zi back into the house. He checks for Zhao Zi’s temperature with the back of his hand. “Fever?”

“Just the flu for now, I think?” Zhao Zi says. 

Jack purses his lips. “Have you had anything to eat?”

“I had some bread earlier?” Zhao Zi says, but he also looks shifty enough that Jack mostly takes it with a grain of salt.

“Give me your house keys,” he tells Zhao Zi, “and then go back upstairs and continue sleeping. I’ll go get some groceries, and make you something to eat.”

If Jack were less concerned about whether or not Zhao Zi is going to keel over any minute now, he would at least crack a smile over how easily Zhao Zi acquiesces, fishing out a set of keys from the drawers by the door. 

“They don’t look like your keys,” Jack says, turning bright red fabric flower keychain in his hands when Zhao Zi hands it to him. “Grandma’s?”

Zhao Zi nods. 

“What did your grandma use to make for you when you weren’t feeling well?” Jack asks.

“Chicken and ginger congee,” Zhao Zi says, making his way up the steps slowly. “She said it helps.”

Jack smiles. “Did it?”

Zhao Zi shrugs. “Food always seems to help.”

—

He leaves Zhao Zi’s grandma’s set of keys on the kitchen counter when he leaves later that night, after making sure that Zhao Zi is fed, hydrated, and tucked into bed.

Zhao Zi sends him a meme to thank him the next morning, and Jack? 

Jack doesn’t stop smiling the entire day.

And if he also maybe buys out all the cookbooks available in this one bookstore he comes across at the end of his day, it’s just because he’s got a renewed interest in cooking, that’s all.

—

The next time Jack manages to weasel his way into going to Zhao Zi’s house is when he just happens to be close by the station just as Zhao Zi is getting off work. 

Zhao Zi waves at him, grinning brightly, when he sees Jack. “What a coincidence!” he says. And then, a little worriedly, “You’re not here for an interrogation, are you?”

Jack laughs. “No,” he assures Zhao Zi. “I was actually trying to figure out what to have for dinner. Do you want to have dinner with me? I’ll cook!” 

“I can’t make you do that,” Zhao Zi protests. “I still haven’t thanked you properly for making me congee when I was sick! I should treat you to dinner!”

“We can do that another day,” Jack says easily. “I just saw this recipe for spicy garlic almond butter noodles on the internet that I wanted to try to make.” He grins when Zhao Zi’s eyes widen with obvious interest, and barely suppresses the urge to laugh out loud when he sees Zhao Zi swallow. “It looked really nice,” he continues. “I bet it tastes really good too.”

Zhao Zi stays quiet for a moment, considering, and then he turns around and starts walking in the opposite direction of where his house is. 

“Where are you going?” Jack asks. 

“Supermarket! I’ve got no ingredients for you to cook with at home!” Zhao Zi calls out without stopping, and it’s all Jack can do to keep himself from running after Zhao Zi to ask how he’s so fucking precious all the time. 

He gives himself a minute to count his blessings that the universe has thought it prudent to bring him such a gift, and then hurries to catch up to Zhao Zi, slinging an arm over his shoulder casually.

Zhao Zi doesn’t shrug his arm off, just keeps walking, chattering excitedly about how he’s been starving since lunchtime.

“Did you not have lunch?” Jack asks. 

Zhao Zi makes a face. “Sometimes it gets busy, so we work through lunch?” he says. “Not always, though. I only went without lunch today because we ran out of cup noodles at the station.” 

Jack hums at that, already planning his next visit to the police station. 

—

“I know you said you don’t have a girlfriend now,” Jack says one weekend, when he’s just chilling out with Zhao Zi at Zhao Zi’s place, waiting for his roast beef to be done. “But did you, before?”

“Nope,” Zhao Zi says. 

“Boyfriend?” Jack continues. 

Zhao Zi peers at him over the novel that he’s reading, and then rolls his eyes, probably deciding that Jack is teasing him. “I’ve never dated before,” Zhao Zi clarifies.

Jack smiles at that. “Good.”

“Good?” Zhao Zi echoes. 

“Yeah. Good,” Jack says again. “I’ll take you out for dinner tomorrow night,” he says, mostly as a distraction, because they’re not ready for this conversation yet.

It works. Zhao Zi beams at him, eyes shining like dinner is the most important thing in the world. And you know what? To Zhao Zi, it probably is. 

“Can we eat Korean food tomorrow? I have the hugest craving for-”

Jack just smiles, and listens to Zhao Zi list out all the foods that he’s apparently been dreaming about since forever. 

They’ll get whatever Zhao Zi wants to eat. 

Jack is happy just to see him happy. 

—

At some point, Jack starts coming around to Zhao Zi’s house more often. 

He also takes to stocking Zhao Zi’s fridge so they don’t have to make a separate trip to the grocery store every time Jack shows up and decides that he wants to make dinner for Zhao Zi.

He starts binning all the ready-to-eat meals that Zhao Zi keeps handy in his kitchen, because no, those can’t be good for him, and really, Jack is generally just a phone call away, ready, willing and able to make him whatever he wants to eat. If Jack knows in advance that he’s going to be away doing something for Xing Tian Meng, he makes sure to cook in advance, and pack dinners for Zhao Zi to just heat up and eat as well. 

Point is, Jack basically takes over Zhao Zi’s kitchen, and where he is able to, he makes a special trip to Zhao Zi’s house with groceries at least once every two weeks just to make sure that they have enough food to last through till the next trip.

It is on one of such trips one night that he ends up having to wait outside Zhao Zi’s door because Zhao Zi’s meeting at the station ran for longer than it was supposed to. 

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry,” Zhao Zi says when he sees Jack sitting cross-legged by his door. He rushes to unlock his front door, and then steps back to help Jack with the bags of groceries. “Did you have to wait very long?” 

“Twenty minutes, maybe?” Jack says, and then grins. “I was lucky it wasn’t raining.”

Jack takes his time unpacking the groceries and loading them into the refrigerator, knowing that Zhao Zi will probably use that time to take a quick shower. They can decide what Jack is going to make for dinner after Zhao Zi is done. Jack’s not in a hurry to leave, after all. 

Instead of heading to the shower, however, Zhao Zi loiters around for a little, watching Jack at work. Jack would be lying if he said he didn’t, at least to a certain extent, enjoy having Zhao Zi’s attention on himself.

Jack huffs out a laugh. “Are you hungry already?” he murmurs. “Is that it?”

“Actually,” Zhao Zi starts, and he sounds a little more serious than usual, so Jack turns around to face Zhao Zi. “Actually, I was thinking that maybe you should keep this.” He slides his grandma’s set of house keys, complete with the red fabric flower keychain and all, across the kitchen counter to Jack. “This way, you won’t have to be stuck outside waiting for me if I’m late. What if it rains next time?”

Jack’s heart feels incredibly full, and god, he _wants_. 

He wants to lean across the counter, wants to tug Zhao Zi in close, wants to murmur quietly into the space between them about how much he adores Zhao Zi, wants to be able to kiss him and _kiss him_ and never stop doing it. 

What he does, instead, is this —

He takes the keys from Zhao Zi, looks him in the eye, and says, “You could’ve just told me to bring an umbrella next time, you know?” 

Zhao Zi smiles. “Yeah, I know.”

—

Jack starts, whenever is possible, to drop packed lunch for Zhao Zi at the station. To be honest, he’s wanted to from that time Zhao Zi told him that they have to work through lunch sometimes. Even if that’s not the case, Jack knows from experience how useless Zhao Zi is in the kitchen, and how he’s just content to settle for cup noodles when there’s no other option. 

The first time it happens, Zhao Zi is almost suspicious of the whole thing, thinking that Jack is probably in trouble, and needs him to bail him out of it. 

That lasts for maybe about ten seconds, just long enough before Zhao Zi opens the lunch box to find that Jack has made him California rolls. 

“How did you know that California rolls are my favourite?” Zhao Zi asks in awe, eyes wide. 

_‘Because you said you dreamt of it two nights ago, you idiot,’_ Jack thinks fondly, but doesn’t say that. 

What he does instead is to reach out to ruffle Zhao Zi’s hair, and then tell him, “I made you dessert as well.”

Zhao Zi gasps. “Not daifuku.” 

Jack grins at Zhao Zi’s obvious delight. “I’ve never made it before, so you have to tell me if it tastes nice when you’re done, okay?” 

He turns to leave when Zhao Zi is still starry-eyes, but Zhao Zi manages to snap out of it, and grab him by his shirtsleeve. 

“Have you eaten yet?” Zhao Zi asks. “You made a lot.”

Jack did make a lot, but it wasn’t out of some ploy to make Zhao Zi feel like he needs to offer to share, but more out of concern that Zhao Zi would be hungry if he didn’t make enough.

“I’ve eaten,” he tells Zhao Zi, just to gauge his reaction. Zhao Zi’s face falls, much to Jack’s delight. “I can stay to keep you company while you eat, though,” he suggest, and Zhao Zi looks up and smiles at Jack again, bright and happy and _oh_ , Jack knows in that moment —knew way earlier, if he’s being honest with himself— that he’s doomed. 

—

It all comes to a head one night, at Zhao Zi’s house, after dinner, when they are both doing the dishes. 

Jack has, with Zhao Zi’s dubiously helpful comments of _‘maybe more sugar, I think it tasted sweeter’_ , _‘I think it’s more gingery’_ and _‘it could be potatoes but it might have also been carrots’_ , been trying for weeks to recreate one of Zhao Zi’s grandma’s pork dishes that Zhao Zi hasn’t had since he was in primary school, but now misses for some reason. 

They’re still quite a long way from perfecting the dish, mostly because Zhao Zi can’t even really remember what goes in the dish, but Jack doesn’t even mind — it feels _good_ , just to be here, with Zhao Zi, doing something he loves, for the man he loves.

Whatever he’s thinking must show on his face, because Zhao Zi goes quiet all of the sudden, and just _looks_ at Jack. 

“What?” Jack asks, in an effort to lighten the mood, to calm down his rapidly beating heart. “Do I have something on my face?”

It feels… 

It feels strangely like something is about to happen, something life-changing, and while Jack knows what he has his hopes pinned on, he knows that it’s also not exactly out of the question for Zhao Zi to reject his feelings. 

Jack doesn’t really know if he’s ready for it. 

“Jack,” Zhao Zi says, and he sounds shaky. “Jack, do you _like_ me?” 

Jack swallows, and his grip tightens on the empty bowl he’s holding in his hands. “I was honestly beginning to think you were never going to realise,” he ends up saying, honest. “How did you even get through police academy with observation skills like these?”

Zhao Zi takes a step closer to Jack, pries his fingers off the bowl in his hands. “If you had just said something, then we wouldn’t have to rely on my observation skills,” he tells Jack, and then finally, blessedly, Zhao Zi kisses him. 

When they eventually part, Jack presses his forehead against Zhao Zi, and can’t stop smiling. 

“What?” Zhao Zi asks. 

Jack laughs. “Now you can’t say you’ve never been kissed before.” He kisses Zhao Zi again, just a quick press of their lips together. “Now you can’t say you’ve only been kissed once before too.”

Zhao Zi smiles so wide at Jack, Jack almost feels his heart stop. 

“What if someone asks if I’ve ever been kissed at least three times?” Zhao Zi murmurs.

“You can also say yes to that,” Jack tells him, and then kisses him again.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this before ep7 aired and had to rewrite a few parts to make it ep7-compliant, let me know if anything stands out as obviously incorrect! 
> 
> .................YEAH I KNOW I SAID I /FICLET/.
> 
> As usual, you can find me [here on Tumblr](https://sarah-yyy.tumblr.com/post/184570708523/amuse-bouche-sarahyyy-history3-%E5%9C%88%E5%A5%97), come say hi! :D


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